In the bog of cats

By the Bog of Cats - Acting Edition by Marina Carr

Loosely based on Euripides tragedy , this is the prophetic tale of Hester Swane, an Irish Traveller, who attempts to come to terms with a lifetime of abandonment in a world where all whom she has loved have discarded her. Set on the bleak, ghostly landscape of the Bog of Cats, this provocative drama discloses one womans courageous attempts to lay claim to that which is hers, as her world is torn in two. At the age of seven, Hester was abandoned on the side of the bog by her wild and fiercely independent mother, Big Josie Swane. Hester has spent a lifetime waiting for Big Josie to return. To compound her sense of abandonment, Hesters long-term lover, Carthage Kilbride, with whom she has a seven-year-old daughter, is selling her down the river for the promise of land and wealth through a marriage with the local big farmers daughter. Alone and dejected, Hester has no one to whom she can turn except the local misfits, Monica Murray and the Catwoman. As ever in Carrs dramas, the small community is populated by richly woven characters from the outrageous, stultifying mother of the groom, Mrs. Kilbride, to the brutal and mercenary farmer, Xavier Cassidy. In the final moments of the action, we witness a woman provoked beyond the limits of human endurance. BY THE BOG OF CATS is a furious, uncompromising tale of greed and betrayal, of murder and profound self-sacrifice.

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03.08.2019

Ah Go Wan, Part II - By the Bog of Cats at NSDF 2010

By the Bog of Cats Character List

Representing the moors of Ireland, the set was vital to establishing the eerie, mystical feeling of the play. Second-year scenic designer Sydney Purdue did an expert job recreating the bog on stage: the setup featured a massive gnarled tree, ghostly glowing lights, and billows of fog that would roll across the stage and nestle in with the audience. The director, fourth-year Julia Santha, and the designers captured the right atmosphere by surrounding the set with dim lighting and quiet background noises. Entering the theater was like entering another world, which sparked my curiosity before the play even began. I would only change the Irish music played before the actors came on stage in the second act. While it both placed the audience in the appropriate wider setting and prepared them for the Irish accents, it was a little too upbeat. Carr complicates this theme by giving her heroine, Hester Swane, psychological issues stemming from her childhood abandonment.

By the Bog of Cats is a highly-strung play set in the bogs of the Irish midlands, which subjugates the ethereality of the Irish countryside. The minimalist set design allows the set to function as the bog itself, the house, the caravan and the wedding venue with only minor changes or verbal cues used to indicate the change. This works to great effect; the emotional intensity of the play is more than enough to carry it through to the emotional heights of the final scenes. A wonderful backing cast of actors threatens to take the spotlight away from Susan Lynch, who plays the lead role of Hester Swane. Susan Lynch does her best, but a certain amount of emotion and the pity we might have had for Hester is lost through her repeated shouting down of her opposing characters. It is not until the second half of the play that we get to see more of her range, as emotional scenes with her daughter Josie played by the wonderful young actress Elodie Devins, who alternates with Eve Maher bring a welcome return to the more personal and emotionally affecting scenes, which are excellently wrought. Through her direction, Cartmell makes strides towards the reinvention of the play as a modern one, rather than one held in the suspension in the twentieth century.

These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. Hester Swane is the mother of Josie Swane. Her mother left her alone when she was seven years old and she has been waiting her return ever since. She feels guilt for killing her brother and walks the bog at night because she cannot sleep. Hester is losing everything in her life. She kills her daughter before killing herself so that her daughter does not long for her like she longs for her own mother.

By the Bog of Cats Character List. Hester Swane is the mother of Josie Swane. Josie Kilbride is the daughter of Hester Swane and Carthage Kilbride.
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Hester Swane is having a bad day. Her lover, Carthage Kilbride, is due to marry another woman, just as she is being driven from her home, her only connection to her long-lost mother. In the first major revival of the play since its Abbey debut, director Selina Cartmell stresses those otherworldly qualities. That allows Cartmell to play fast and loose with the gravity of her references. The Ghost Fancier David Shannon , now a singing cowboy, comes trailed by country and western music, as though fresh from a David Lynch movie.

By the Bog of Cats is a play by Marina Carr. It is loosely based on the Greek myth Medea. In this myth, the sorceress Medea marries the hero Jason and has two children with him. By the Bog of Cats contains many mystical and mythical elements, including ghosts, curses, and references to witchcraft. At the beginning of the play, Hester is dragging a dead black swan across the snow and ice at the Bog of Cats. The Ghost Fancier has come to collect her but realizes that he is early as Hester is still alive.